1999 Ford F 350 Super Duty Xlt Super Duty 7.3 L Diesel 4x4 Crew Cab on 2040-cars

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Edmunds ranks the best used cars for 2013

When people ask us what car we would recommend for them, it's usually not easy to answer. To make a useful recommendation we must consider which of the numerous vehicle segments fits their needs best, and then choose one of the many vehicles offered in each segment. For some people, new cars don't meet their expectations of value, because they lose so much of it the moment they are purchased and driven off the dealer lot. For them, there's always the used-car market, where great deals can be found, but cars' histories of reliability and maintenance records - and perhaps that Certified Pre-Owned warranty - become ever-important factors playing into purchase choice.
To help out, Edmunds has done us the favor of assembling a list of the best used vehicles money can buy, covering model years 2006-2011, according to what it considers the most important criteria when shopping for used autos: reliability, safety, value and availability. That means unreliable, unsafe, super-expensive or limited-edition models don't appear on the list, but instead cars from each segment that are more likely to satisfy the general population.
There are some real goodies on the list, including but not limited to vehicles such as the capable Honda Fit, the cultish Honda Accord coupe (which can be had with a 240-horsepower V6 and a six-speed manual transmission some years), and the powerful Chevrolet Corvette. While Edmunds' choice of the Volvo C70 for best used convertible baffled us at first (not that it's a bad car), it redeemed itself by stating that the Mazda MX-5 still is an unofficial top choice if you don't require more than two seats.

2013-2017 Ford Explorer recalled over rear suspension issue, again

Ford is recalling about 375,000 Explorer SUV models built between 2013 and 2017 in North America to fix a potential defect in the rear suspension. In "North America states and provinces where corrosion is common," which we take to mean areas that experience harsh winters and heavily salted roads, "a fracture of the outboard section of the rear suspension toe link" is possible on affected vehicles. Ford says 350,000 of these models were sold in the United States and another 25,200 in Canada. This isn't the first time Explorers of this generation have been recalled for fractured toe links. Back in the summer of 2017, 1.2 million Explorer models were recalled over toe links that could fracture if subjected to "frequent full rear suspension articulation (jounce and rebound)." A little over a year earlier, 75,000 Explorers were recalled over, you guessed it, rear toe links that may not have been welded properly. It's not just Explorers that Ford has recalled over rear toe links. Earlier this year, the automaker issued a recall that covered nearly 230,000 Ford Flex, Taurus and Lincoln MKT models. All of these recalled vehicles ride on similar unibody underpinnings that Ford calls the D4 platform. We can't say whether these other D4-based vehicles will get another recall as the Explorer has. Ford says it is aware of as many as 13 crashes and six injuries attributable to the toe links covered under this most recent Explorer recall. Owners will need to visit their preferred dealership, which will "complete a torque inspection of the cross-axis ball joint and replace it as necessary," according to Ford. Related Video:

Ford will add lots of carbon fiber to new vehicles

With BMW receiving a bunch of positive press for its usage of carbon fiber to build its i3 and i8 plug-in vehicles, Ford is jumping into that game as well. The US automaker has reached a manufacturing agreement with Dow Chemical to speed up the use of that material in Blue Oval vehicles. Carbon fiber usage will cut weight from Ford's new products, boosting fuel efficiency as a result. Ford will work with DowAksa, a 50/50 joint venture between Dow Chemical and Turkey-based Aksa Akrilik Kimya Sanayii A.S, on a manufacturing partnership. The goal is to speed up technology research to make it cheaper to make cars and trucks with carbon fiber materials. Ford's light-weighting efforts received a boost of sorts this week when its aluminum-body 2015 F-150 was awarded a five-star Overall Vehicle Score in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's testing, making this year's version the safest to date. The new body construction cut 700 pounds from the truck's curb weight. Take a look at Ford's press release about DowAksa below. FORD, DOWAKSA TO JOINTLY DEVELOP CARBON FIBER FOR HIGH-VOLUME AUTOMOTIVE LIGHT-WEIGHTING APPLICATIONS Ford and DowAksa formalize agreement to advance the adoption of cost-effective carbon fiber components through technology validation and proof of concept to reduce vehicle weight and increase fuel efficiency without sacrificing strength Agreement provides pathway for a high-volume manufacturing partnership New joint development agreement accelerates joint research announced in January in partnership under new U.S. composites manufacturing institute Ford and DowAksa today signed a joint development agreement (JDA) to formally advance research on cost-effective, high-volume manufacturing of automotive-grade carbon fiber, a material poised to play a significant role in the drive to make vehicles lighter for greater fuel efficiency, performance and capability. The agreement, between Ford Motor Company, Ford Global Technologies and DowAksa – a 50/50 joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company and Aksa Akrilik Kimya Sanayii A.S – will combine DowAksa's feedstock capacity, carbon fiber conversion and downstream intermediates production capabilities with Ford's expertise in design, engineering and high-volume manufacturing. The goal is to produce materials that make cost-effective carbon fiber composite parts that are much lighter than steel but meet automotive strength requirements.